


Immortality and Power

by Stealthily_Nobody



Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Orochimaru-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 11:20:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15266391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stealthily_Nobody/pseuds/Stealthily_Nobody
Summary: In introspective fic about Orochimaru's decisions based on the idea that he was in love with Sakumo.





	Immortality and Power

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Snake In the Grass, a Wolf At the Door](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2348309) by [blackkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat). 



> Like basically every other Orochimaru/Sakumo fic, this story is inspired by blackkat. I'm slightly obsessed with this pairing now and even though I doubt this story is any good I hope other people like it. (maybe)

Immortality and Power. To live forever, and protect those dear. For what was power without one to wield it for? And how to ensure that those dear never died than immortality? Power was knowledge put into practice, and what knowledge would garner more power than every shinobi jutsu? 

Immortality. Memories of a blood flooded floor and a young child clinging to the blood well. A child so fundamentally broken that he could not remember his finder. Who could not recall familiarity with any but the corpse whose blood flowed in his veins. A corpse who invoke pain, pain,  _ pain _ . A instinctively familiar face whose stoic expression in death made him a stranger to who he’d been in life. 

Immortality. A way to keep the child alive. A way to prevent another beloved’s death. 

Power. Musty books and thousands of hours practising the contents. The belief that power changed everything. The guilty of not being powerful enough to save loved ones. The despair of being protected by the dead. The will to protect those few remaining precious people. The goal, the mindless pursuit, to become the most powerful person. The truth that only the most powerful could prevent the death of their loved ones. 

Power. Jutsu. A way to protect the child. A way to keep his loved ones safe. 

Immortality. A delay in aging wasn’t enough. Not impervious to weapons. Not immune to disease. Only prolonging death, but not enough in a shinobi lifestyle. For a shinobi any moment could be his last. Time remaining shortened as the child threw himself into Anbu, into the most dangerous missions. Rushed experiments equal botched experiments, but no time. Not when the child could die at any moment. 

Power. Jutsu after Jutsu. Book after book. Still not enough. Never enough. Ambushes on villages to obtain their guarded jutsus. Still not enough. Hours spent learning the jutsus, hours on failure and then success. Too much chakra, not enough chakra. Balancing was challenging. Balancing was enough to forget the blood on the floor. Enough to forget the unknowing look of the child. But not enough to forget the smiles of both. Not enough to forget the happy memories they once shared. Gone now, but enough power could bring them back. 

Immortality. Experiments. Investigations into plants rumoured to prolong death. Inquiries into ninjutsus that heal injuries. Special consideration into medical ninjutsu. Years and years of learning about the human body and all its flaws and perfections. Years of slowly killing victims to learn about mortality. All in the name of immortality. All to keep the child safe.

Power. Experiments. Different from immortality, but no less immoral. The beloved would be disappointed, but it doesn’t matter. The beloved’s dead, and the child is broken. Experiments with kekkei genkai and in particular children. The mokuton. A powerful ninjutsu belonging to the first Hokage. Powerful and unwieldy. But how to incorporate it into the body? More experiments. This time with babies, for they can adapt to foreign implants better than children or adults. Perhaps the fixed child can have the mokuton implanted. It would pair nicely with the sharingan. 

Immortality. People in the village whisper killer and torturer and even other shinobi have disgust in their eyes. They all condemn the vicious experiments, but they don’t understand. They still have the people most important to them. They embrace their mortality. But why? Seeing those you love die hurts. 

Power. Discovery of the secret experiments. The ones with children, with infants. Chased from the village. Not that it mattered. The village was only a convenient living area without the beloved and the child. Fled the village, only to meet the child again. So long had it been, but the child hadn’t healed. Still broken and needing to be fixed. Immobilize for now. Not to kill yet. The fixing process wasn’t finalized yet, and so the child couldn’t be fixed yet. Soon was the promise as the child was left in the village. The village would protect the child until the child could be fixed. 

Immortality. Edo Tensei. The ability to bring the dead back to life. A way to tie the existence of loved ones to a another’s life span. Immerious to disease and weapon. Still not enough, but getting closer. Closer to the desired goal. But if the user isn’t immortal than neither are the dead, for the death of the user breaks the jutsu. More work and practise. Practise before rising the beloved. Practise before fixing the child. Nothing could go wrong to those two. 

Power. An answer found. The sharrigan. Eyes that learn any jutsu after seeing it once. The child already wields it and is rumoured to have learned over 1000 jutsus. Only 3 people with the sharingan remain. Two Uchiha and the child. Cannot harm the child. Cannot weaken the child. Eldest Uchiha is too strong and suspicious. But the young one. The young one is perfect prey. Plans to be concocted. Plans to put into motion.

Immortality. The Edo Tensei isn’t strong enough yet. Not yet perfect. The hokages weren’t nearly strong enough and the fourth didn’t return. What if the beloved doesn’t return? What if the child doesn’t return once fixed? Can’t risk it. Also, it doesn’t completely work. The hokages still return to the pure land. What if the beloved and the child did the same? They weren’t allowed to. Make sure they can’t. More research. 

Power. It worked! The young Uchiha left the village. He’ll require training before his eyes are strong enough, but it doesn’t matter. Soon, soon the sharingan will no longer be his. The sharingan. Power. The power to master every jutsu with just a look. It hurt. The child had followed. The child was upset. Right, the young Uchiha was the child student. All would be worth it. Soon the child and beloved would be reunited. Soon. 

Immortality. Death. Underestimated the young Uchiha. Taught him some, but he learned more on his own. Learnt enough to kill the dream. The unyielding desire. The dream of the beloved and the child alive forever in this world, tied to no one. The Edo Tensei had been just about perfected, but no time. No time to sneak into Konoha and fix the child, nor to retrieve sacrifices. Death wasn’t planned. It changed everything. 

Power. No power in the pure world. No need for power. No chakra network. The knowledge remained, but no way to put it in practise. Even the pursuit for power was gone. Drained from everyone’s being. No more fighting, no more death. Instead guilt takes the place of greed. Guilt for desires and the harm wrought on others in the pursuit of power. Couldn’t meet with the beloved. The guilt wouldn’t allow it, for the beloved was pure and good. The beloved would hate this pursuit and the crimes committed in its name. 

Immortality. Revived from the pure land. Brought back by the young Uchiha to use Edo Tensei on the former Hokage. A chance to see sensei again after killing him. A chance of redemption. A chance to once again value mortality. Mortality as a gift. A chance to let go of the past and move forward. A chance to meet the child once again. 

Power. War. The Fourth Shinobi war. Fighting once more. Saving a teammate who had once been a friend. Working to protect the young Uchiha who was almost on par with the child. (Not that he could ever be more important than the child, but the young Uchiha was the second most important alive person.) A fight to prevent the illusion of a perfect world. A fight to protect the memories of the beloved and the child. Memories that were finally remember fondly and without pain. 

Immortality. Restoration. Back to peace and the realisation that immortality comes in many different forms. One is simply the passing of genes and the immortality of a bloodline. With the DNA of the beloved cames the creation of Mitsuki. A clone with the beloved’s DNA mixed in. A child of his beloved and a brother to the child. Although neither Mitsuki nor the child will ever meet as siblings. But Mitsuki grows up hearing stories of his father and brother without ever knowing their relations to him. Mitsuki helps fill the gap left by the beloved and child, but ever is the longing for them all together in one place. 

Power. No need for more power. Now the research is to explore more than an insistent need to grow stronger. The Fourth Hokage’s boy created a peaceful world where the child and Mitsuki’s lives aren’t in constant danger. Power is great, but more than that is trust. Trust that the child and Mitsuki are strong enough to fight for themselves. Sharing the power and knowledge with Mitsuki. Knowledge is meant to be shared and power to be mentored. 

Death. The second death isn’t nearly as scary. The return to the pure land is almost a relief. And there is the beloved, Sakumo. Sakumo waiting. Sakumo with a smile. Then the child appears. The child, Kakashi. Kakashi smiling. Kakashi remembering. Then Mitsuki. Mitsuki meeting his father and brother. Mitsuki learning about his family. And finally they’re all together. A family. 

Family. In the end family is the answer. Family is the power to keep going, and the shared moments hide immortality. To family everyone is powerful enough to love and in their love they are cemented forever in each other minds. 


End file.
